How to...
Buying Domain Names
It can be a bit of a challenge buying the domain name you rally want. But there are some things you can do to make it easier for yourself.
First you need to find a trusted domain name company, and having used several I know it can be a minefield.
FINDING A GOOD DOMAIN NAME COMPANY
It is vital that you read the small print as some of it is extremely fine and can be very costly in the long run.
You may, at the moment, wish to buy a domain to hold onto it, not really knowing what you wish to do with it yet. When you have thought up that million dollar idea and you need to transfer the domain you could be stung for hundreds of pounds. So be careful and check the small print.
The best domain company I have discovered through trial and error is 123-reg at www.123-reg.co.uk
DOMAIN NAMES
.com is a much precious item and many of the domain names have been snapped up in the hope that someone would offer huge amounts of money for them.
Many domains are parked and "under construction", some have been used to forward the surfer to another website others have been used for real websites already.
So the you need to have a good idea of your domain name and any alternatives possible. An good example was when I had to purchase a domain for a company called Property Abroad Consultants SL, so www.property-abroad-consultants-sl.com was purchased but also www.pac-sl.com for a shorted easier to remember domain, great for emails and to forward visitors to the real website.
Make a note of as many domain alternatives as possible and then visit a domain handler such as 123-reg to carry out your searches for each of the domains.
If .com is unavailable don't forget about .uk.com alternative or .net if your business/idea is mainly online.
Domain Watchers
If your .com, .net or .org domain name is not available then check the expiry date of the domain and if it is not too long to wait then buy a domain watcher.
A domain watcher will check if the domain is available and once it becomes available it will attempt to register it in your name.
These work really well and I have purchased several domains this way including radisic.com which I was waiting 6 months for.
Detagged and Still not available?
When someone registers a domain it has to be registered for a minimum of 2 years, .com and .net can now be registered for up to 10 years.
Once the domain is up for renewall the owner is notified by email, if they do not renew the domain then it will become detagged on the expiry date. In the case of .co.uk the registrar notifies them by post to let them know it has been detagged.
Detagged means it will no longer function either for website or email.
Up to 6 months later (longer in some cases depending on the registrar) the domain will be released to the world, at this point you have to be ready for it. But it can be impossible to know when the domain will be released so domain watchers are extremely useful.
Some Domain Holding Features
123-reg are relatively inexpensive and full of features that others charge extra for. Domain forwarding does not include banners or any other form of advertising.
Submit your domain to 10 search engines free.
Domain Forwarding lets you specify what happens when someone types in your domain name to a browser. Several options are available including website in a frame.
This allows the visitor to see your nice short easy to remember domain name in the address bar of their browser but are actually looking at your free webspace at some long strange domain name such as www.myfreedomain.freeserve.co.uk
123-reg now allows you to set up to 100 Email forwarding. So you@yourdomain.com, mymum@yourdomain.com, mygirlfriend@, mydog@ etc@ can all be redirected to other email accounts.
Complete DNS management which is usually not available from most domain sellers.
